Villain just sat down at the table on my left and this is his first hand of the night. He bought in for $500, nearly all in green $25 chips. Walked in and immediately recognized and small talked the dealer, was pretty loud and gave off a cocky vibe. It's Saturday around 9pm and he is dressed to go out on the town. My initial take was that he might be splashy and/or looking to get involved/gamble and play some big pots, having said that I have found that making snap assumptions about poker players before I see their play is a very imperfect science.

Hero looks to be mid thirties wearing a baseball cap, nothing about me that would suggest a style of play one way or the other, though I doubt I give off a super aggro vibe. Sitting on around $400.

On to the hand:

There is a button straddle of $10 from a super loose short stacked (around $80) player who is ready to leave and shoving with just about any two cards (i.e. a few minutes earlier he shoved with 8h2h and flopped two pair to stay alive). Folds around to fish who initially calls $2 and then realizes it's a straddle and puts in $10. I'm in MP, look down at AsKh, and raise to $50. Villain re-raises me to $100, folds all around and action back to me.

The pot is now $170, it's $50 more to call, and my remaining stack is around $350. What should we make of Villain's min re-raise? Is this a jam/5-bet to $300, call, or fold?

Feeling I misplayed this hand and wondering what the consensus might be in this spot.

I re-raise him and go all in.

Calling is not an option unless you plan to jam every flop.

On a side note, I would have made it slightly less pre so that if shorty shoved, I could re-raise. Normally, $50 is fine.

What kind of a range do we put him on? It's so hard to know in the first hamd but JJ+/AKs is a standard range here, leaving us in a slightly behind/way behind situation.

However, with the dead money in the pot, we only need about 40% equity for this to be profitable. Let's say there's a 20% chance that he raised thinking that you were trying to steal the pot, short of him showing us AA/KK, we've got to defend this pot.

So I agree with JN, and you should push.

It sucks that this is V's first hand at the table. Like you I don't like to make any assumptions about new players until they show you reason to do otherwise. I don't really like any of the options we have, however I think given the superficial read we have (i.e. that the dude is here to gamble hoping to win some $$ for the strippers) I re-pop to $270 and shove any flop. If you shove pre-flop it looks less like you have AA and we all know how much people like to "put you on Ace King".

An alternative: Pre-flop I would in all honesty limp behind here. The new player at the table is an unknown yet to act and we have a shortstack in for a $10 straddle. If we limp we get to see the action of the new player behind us and our limp may also induce others to limp. The thinking behind this is that the shortstack is unlikely to be able to control themselves with all the limping and will shove over (i.e. "ooooh dead money") given they have shoved with 82hh previously. We can then put the hammer down.

Obviously this is all going to plan - if V raises and the straddle folds, then we need to re-evaluate.

If he makes it $270, he has only $80 left. I think shoving is a little better.

This is one time where I think outer appearance, etc., is key. The guy bought in for 250bb, looks like he wants to play big pots, appears gambly, and knows the dealer. I'm shoving every time w/ AKo. If he happens to have a big hand here, oh, well, rebuy!!!

If the variance or losing 200bb (less w/ the straddle) bothers you, folding is OK, but I wouldn't do it.

We have $400 to begin hand. $130 left behind if we make it $270. That's what I'd do if I had AA (actually I'd probably go slightly smaller c.$240), so that's what I'll do with AK too planning to shove any and every flop.

$400 - $50 = $350.

$350 - $270 = $80.

Am I missing something?

I meant raise to $270 total. Not on top of the $50 we already have in there.

Hmm. If he calls, he's never folding for $130 if he hits any part of the flop or if he has a pair and no A/K hits. If an A/K hits, he can fold and we lose that last $130.

I guess I'd just rather gii now, take advantage of bigger FE, and see all five cards w/o his being able to make a +EV decision on the flop.

I would either fold or shove, depending on my bankroll situation. I'm never calling the raise as your hand is obvious when you hit so you'll never get paid postflop but always get it in when behind.

Assuming my roll is adequate I'm actually happier with the preflop AK semibluff shove with 200bb than 100bb. Reason is your opponents are more likely to actually fold their QQ- hands than when only 100bb deep. Yes you're facing KK+ very frequently when called but you pick up the dead money way more often than when shorter stacked.

You never know, despite his appearance new villain might be capable of making a massive (and bad) lay down with KK

In raising to $270 pre-flop we have mentally already made the decision to get it all in. The flop is irrelevant. We don't fold any flop for $130 with $540 in the pot. I favour balancing my range over shoving pre-flop. If you don't shove with AA in this spot, then you also shouldn't shove AK imo. I believe that raising to $270 is far more frightening to V than a shove and hence we actually have higher fold equity pre-flop by doing this verses by shoving.

If he wants to call off an additional $170 pre-flop to see a flop with medium strength hands (i.e. small pairs etc) then that is what we want him to do as he gets owned by AA more often than not and who knows - maybe he folds unfavourable boards which don't have an ace or king.